My wife and I are planning on retiring sometime in the next 2 yrs. We would like to move to the coastal area of WA or OR. I was wondering if one or the other was better financially than the other for retirees? Our income will be from some part time work and investments.
My personal feeling is that any state needs a certain amount of income and gets it from taxes. In MO they tax everything but don't lean heavily on any particular category like personal property, income or sales taxes. I know that WA doesn't have an income tax and OR doesn't have a sales tax but how about other taxes or costs of living that would affect retirees? Gun friendliness or lack of is not an issue.

Thanks,

Jeff

Overall total tax rates are Oregon rated at 46th highest and Washington at 32 - so according to the article on CNN Money - Oregon would be the best place to move to - however - I think you would be better off to live on the Washington side of the river, and shop on the Oregon side of the river - just MHO.

Pete

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Don't tread on me

It's kind of a trade off that depends on how you want to support the state. WA has no income tax (yet) but they recoup that loss with sales, property, and fuel taxes. Oregon has income tax but no sales tax (don't know about the others). In the end it comes down to if you want to pump your own gas or not. (no self serve gas stations in Oregon, AFIK), and I can't remember a full service gas station in WA for more years than I care to admit). I think the coastal areas of either state are equally beautiful and the people are great in either one (but remember this is a big tourist area so in the summer the roads tend to be a "conga line" of motor homes.

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Minimize the variables

If you like guns--id take Oregon. Remember some of the recent stupidity they were trying to do in Washington?

Depends on if you like a moderately liberal environment or a super liberal environment, if you are looking a suburban type living near a larger city. While the country side may be somewhat conservative, cities like Seattle and Portland are not places I would care to reside.

a datapoint - WA is a Shall Issue CCW state. I don't know about OR though.

Taxes will actually be a wash for either state, I have lived and worked in both. One thing to consider is the area. we have friends who bought there retirement home at Ocean Shores, Wa. and it is the coldest place in the summer. just a bit south is the Long Beach Penninsula where the summer weather is usually better. If you go south to Brookings, there is a weather vortex there which brings very warm temps even in the winter. I would check out the Astoria area.

Oregon is too close to the contaminating influence of California.

The problem with the west side of Washington is that the California influence is developing, and the political view of much of the People's Republic of the I5 Corridor is anti-gun. I do not go west of I90 MP52 unless coerced. CPLs are "shall issue", as noted, and we can have cans now, but no "fun switch" if that sort of thing appeals. I believe that one can have full auto in Oregon, but I could be wrong, and I haven't the free cash to waste turning ammo into noise.

East of the Mountains is a much more pleasant area than the west side, generally, unless you can't take heat. The central and southern portions east of the mountains are essentially high desert, and although dry, there are periods in which I am miserable if I go outside. Drought and nasty fires can be a very real risk, and I think this summer is going to suck.

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NHI, 10-8.

^^THIS^^

Get yourself a place in Vancouver or Washougal Washington. Lower property taxes, no income tax, and you can hop across the Columbia for most of your shopping and not pay the WA sales taxes. Its the tax-haven of the NW...

Trouble is, is the O.P. only gave us two choices to choose from. Had he given a 3rd--id have said Texas of course.

Thanks, I was actually considering both those places.

I don't really care about the whole liberal/conservative thing or gun friendliness.

I'm sure Texas is a fine place for some folks.

Jeff

I do! . . . and I bet most of the members here do as well!

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Gary
SWCA 2515

I'll be in the same boat in 5 or so years and am thinking Idaho, because WA and OR will be CA by that time...

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I used to be disgusted..

My son lives in WA, and it is beautiful in the summer, but starting in Sept through May it is overcast, damp, rainy, and miserable. If that's what you like in the way of weather good for you. I couldn't handle it. I'll just stay here in the Midwest where we actually get 4 seasons, and IL doesn't tax pensions.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Know some folks who moved from CA to OR. They didn't like it when I said 'when CA isn't liberal enough for you , what so you do?
Easy one - move to OR!

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I grew up in Oregon, just outside of Salem, and went to college in Eugene. Politics aside, if you want rain 330 days of the year, go for it. I remember cold, gray, dreary days most of the year, except in the summer. The only difference between winter and summer is that the rain is warmer.

Watch out Oregon

check out a town called Sequim Washington...it is in a rain shadow from the Olympic mountains, so it get a lot less rain....the area is beautiful and you are on the Straits of Juan De fuca and the Olympic Penninsula....mountains behind you and salt water in front....nice area

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carpe diem
one day at a time

Not sure why you'd bother asking for opinions on a gun forum then. Of course the opinions here are going to be colored by those locations attitudes towards firearms and personal freedoms.

This is true of the coast of both states. Seattle actually averages 200 days a year of rainfall, 70 days a year of clear sunshine, and the remaining 95 days a year are pretty much cloudy & overcast. The OP specifically asked for opinions about the COASTAL areas of both states. NOW, if you want to live in the great NW, but have 4 seasons, you have to move to the eastern part of either state. Somewhere just south of Kennewick would still put you close enough to the OR border to do most of your shopping in Hermiston.

It may rain on the Oregon and Washington Coasts but at least it runs to the ocean; there is no shoveling out from a foot of snow or dealing with below zero temperaturers.

B. Mower (Oregon Coast resident since 1977)

I moved to Oregon almost 11 years ago from Calif.Best move I ever did. All states have their good &bad things. Oregon doesn't have a sales tax & probably never will. But property taxes are high. Food prices are the same all over the west, that is pretty good. Have kids in Calif. & Washington so I go there often. Washington has a sales tax almost 10% in places but no state tax. Calkf. has both & more. Oregon is more gun friendly. Property values are lower in Oregon. More bang for your buck, if you will.

This is true - but that is what it means to have 4 seasons. One of them is WINTER!

The good news for us Eastern WA residents is that winter only lasts around 3 months - give or take a little. Spring and fall are only a couple of months each. The longest of the 4 seasons is summer, and it lasts at least 4 months - mid May to Late September - almost every year!

Still enough good people in that State too--to stop the madness. The keys are in their hands-----..........

As I retired from the Army in 1995, over 90% of my retirement is tax exempt in Oregon.
Also have a very effective Department of Veterans Affairs, who financed my house.
Downside: Portland and Eugene are hotbeds of left-wing loonies and assorted perverts.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Pronounced "skwim" like "swim" with a "k" is very nice but I believe Port Townsend is a bit better. It's on the edge of the Rainshadow, is a short hop to Seattle via ferry, is surrounded by water, is safe and there are still properties that won't choke you cost-wise. Just stay east of Port Angeles due to weather.

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Term limits!

Yup, to all of the above. If being in a Class III state was important you'd want Oregon, though Washington has been moving closer to being an NFA state over the last couple legislative sessions. The Oregon coast is beautiful in the summer, cold and wet in the winter. I've lived east of Vancouver WA, its a nice area and its about a 90 minute drive to the ocean. Sequim is real nice, kind of economically depressed, and it is a LONG drive to the city if you want to do city stuff. You might consider Whidbey Island, though the property values are kinda high. It is a bit of a banana belt there, nothing to stop the clouds going overhead so it is dryer than Seattle or the Cascade foothills.

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Even older, even crankier....

Sounds like Austin-unfortunately.

Ive a good friend in Longview--absolutely loves it there-cept when they get about 40 days continuous rain.

Forget about Wa AND Or. Think..............Tx. Down here on the Texas gulf coast the fishing is good for salt or fresh water. When you go into a bar or club they guy at the door will check you to see if you have a gun or a knife. If you don't He'll issue you a loaner for the evening. You get all four seasons here with plenty of skeeters and humidity in the summer months.

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Real men love cats!

The Oregon beach is much nicer than WA. Most of the WA beaches are private reservation land. It does rain less in OR than WA. Politics stink in both states but the cost of living is a little lower in OR. I grew up in OR live in WA and I am looking for a place to retire in OR.

I did some work in Seattle.
One of the guys there said that he was gonna really miss Washington but he was going to have to leave. His wife got really depressed and cried a lot every time it rained for more than a day. Been like that ever since they moved there....
*Man, that's too bad - How long have you lived here?*
*42 years*

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In dog years I'm dead.

I agree with the above, choose Oregon (or Texas), all it ever does is rain here. Don't move here, you will hate it. (I've been telling everyone that since I moved back here in '84, I grew up here and left in '69).

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Minimize the variables

I'm a ways from retiring, but after moving back here eight years ago from the Seattle area, I have no plans to ever move again. I was born here in Seaside, and I can go into the grocery store and run into guys I've known all my life.

If I ever moved back to Washington, it would be to Sequim or Port Townsend like others have mentioned. Both great places, but I'd have to give PT the nod in the coolness factor. But both have Puget Sound, and both have the Olympic Mountains.

If I could convince my wife, though, (and she won't have any part of this) I'd move to Kalispell, Montana.

Come on down to Vegas! Lol, you're only 3 hours from the coast. Anywho, I believe WA is a bit more expensive cost of living wise, though housing I'm not sure about. I personally think Oregon is prettier so it gets my vote!

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Still just a kid at heart

Considering where you will be coming from, unless it is Ladue the cost will probably shock you. I doubt you could even touch the housing prices compared to St. Louis County. I admit St.Louis County is as high as it gets in Missouri, well maybe parts of Jackson County. I would check out prices of homes and where they are lower rather than higher for the same type of house..I think we are a little spoiled when it comes to cost of living in Missouri compared to the west coast or the east coast....Of course considering the recent weather in Missouri in general, almost anything moderate looks good about now....Good Luck

My wife has been following Zillow for the past year and the prices - in the areas we are looking are similar to where we live now (about 1/2 mile from Ladue). I think you can get a lot more for your money in Jeff City.

My head keeps playing "I've Been Everywhere".

Of course, I have never lived everywhere.
I lived on the west coast of Caiforinication and hated the weather there---I like heat when it is hot, not a jacket to go out at night in July.
I don't care for four seasons---I like one season---hot---and the Texas Gulf coast does not offer enough of that for me, either.
I would suggest any place west of Corpus Christi down to Brownsville.
But then again---the Hen says no!
Coast of Oregon is beautiful---I liked the interior but I don't know anything about the weather in winter there.
New Mexico down along the border is actually a place a lot of folks have suggested they wish i would move to---and I could abide by that---the Hen thing again.
Blessings

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TEXAS, by GOD

Neither for me. Too cold, snowy, wet, or rainy. To quote a previous poster "Texas is fine fore some folks". It definitely works for me & hopefully here in a few months I'll be "back in the fold!"

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Lounge Lizard Extraordinaire

I lived in a Portland suburb many years ago. Beautiful country. We moved back to the Midwest in the 80s.
My wife and I looked at the Oregon coast last year for retirement. We went there and looked at homes three times and frankly never found what we wanted.
Income tax is high in Oregon, one of the higher in the nation, I believe.
Sales tax I believe is zero in Oregon. So a great place in my view for lower income people, and not as good for higher income people. and I believe Oregon is pretty high in estate taxes. Not sure about Washington in that regard.

Lived on the west side of Washington for about a year=small town outside of Olympia. Lived east of the mountains now for 20 years=retiring in 3 weeks. Lots of trips to Oregon.

Driving & drivers: Eastside has long open stretches between towns. However, both groups drive like they own the road.
Westside drivers ignore speed limits when traveling through the eastside (Jekyll and Hyde). Most "westies" ignore speed limits and don't know how to drive a freeway ("Rodney Ramjet" driving) on there own turf.
Oregon drivers (Portland at least) ignore pedestrians and bikes have the ROW. I have seen at least two pedestrians "mowed" down by people driving on the sidewalk in Portland.

Taxes: Pretty much a wash=no income vs no sales. At least I don't have to figure state income taxes each year! My niece lives in Vancouver (WA.) Doesn't seem viable to fight traffic to go into Portland to shop==don't save taxes on big purchases (they still nail you on sales tax).

Real Estate: Don't know real estate taxes. My wife is an escrow officer. Home sales are going up but, overall, not much availability. Prices are higher in Oregon, overall. Fewer rentals in eastern Washington and prices are higher.

Commodities: The East side of Washington seems to have more box stores and convenience stores. I believe in supporting "mom and pop" but if you want a case of TP, I'll go to the big box.

Retirement: Forbes listed Wenatchee as #25 as places to retire in the US.

Weather: One thing to point out is that the westside is very ill-prepared for snow when it does come. Portland starts to close up after 1" has fallen (Storm on 12/26/2005?). We got 26" and then the state patrol made us leave.

Climate wise: west gets rain but so does the eastside. However, eastside doesn't really have a Spring. We got about one week this year. However, our home garden usually does very well if you plant the right veggies.

Just some thoughts=we were moved by the Feds in 2000 from SoCal and have adapted to the North Central Washington lifestyle and we love it. We just had to learn a "Southern California Redneck" is largely considered a liberal up here.

Pretty sure he’s got it figured out by now . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

If you like taxes and state fees you will love Washington. Our lawmakers this years passed 27 BILLION dollars worth of new taxes. We have a 10% sales tax and that is just the start of the nightmare.
Just got my driver licence renewed for 4 years at a cost of $140.00, also picked up my hunting licence (all I hunt is doves) and if I remember right that was 60.00.
We are down by Olympia now on vacation. A guy down here was telling me he just got his new Licence Tabs for his motor home and they were almost $3000.00 for one year. I told him that he got off easy the licence fees and sales tax on my daughters new Yukon were just a little over $6,000.00. Depending on where you live in this state you may need to pay the transit tax on your car. We are lucky we live just out side of the transit zone so that saves us close to a thousand dollars a year in transit tax.
Property taxes he are a little more reasonable as we only pay $5,000 a
year on a 1800 sq foot rambler that the county assessor values at $600,000. for tax purposes.
We live up in Snohomish county and they are working to help us cut with living cost. The sheriff's department no long tickets you for not having a drivers license or auto insurance. And our prosecuting attorney dose not prosecute property crimes that are valued under $2500.00. All these measures are to make our homeless population and our undocumented guest from the south feel more at ease. One third of the county budget goes to help those in need.
I have lived in Washington all my life, taxes and the high crime rate have us looking for a new place to live.

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NRA Range Safety Officer

Come to PA to retire. There is no state tax on retirement income. One million acres of state game land to hunt in.

I think he found a place in the last 5 years.

Personally you couldn't get me to retire in either of those two states.

West Virginia. It's the last state they will take your firearms. Every tree and holler will be filled with firearms. And, it is the only state that when you wave at people they wave back with all their fingers. The scenery truly is almost heaven.

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That's gonna leave a mark.

My two cents = two locations. First, Lincoln City OR with its nice stretch of beach. Second, Whidbey Island WA because I love eating cherries grown there.

You aren't going to get good advice without sharing what interests, activities, and other considerations that are driving you to this locale.

I remember when I first started looking for a retirement location (10 years before the date) and checked out these areas.

My wife and I settled on retiring in Escazu, Costa Rica after reading their local English weekly for 8 years and making two 17-day visits (one during the dry season and the other during the wet season); then, we spent 4 months there looking for a place to settle during our initial a two-year commitment with a possible additional 8 years (until we turned 65) if we like it there. We didn't speak Spanish so that added to the adventure.

Medical care costs and level of trauma care are important considerations. Also, consider renting instead of buying a house so you have greater flexibility if you feel the need to move elsewhere. We rented the entire time we lived in Costa Rica and it was a huge relief to be able to leave when we wanted rather than waiting until a house sold.

Travel to both states' coasts. I use Tripadvisor and Lonely Planet Thorntree for solid advice from other travelers and retirees.

An internet search can be a wealth of info to help with your decision.

I get into old threads often when using the search function for a specific model or feature of a gun, but I always wonder how people find these random old Lounge threads to revive ...

Funny I was thinking FLORIDA...

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SWCA #2306
DAV in honor of POP